Friday, 23 September 2016

Finance Fridays – Small change, big money

We were looking at the new
£5 note that has been recently issued for last week's Finance
Fridays. This week it's still about the money in your pocket in
the form of coins. The hobby of collecting coins or numismatology as
it is officially termed has become popular for both the amateur and
professional collector. Whilst the change you have in your purse,
under the sofa or in a money box may not be worth a fortune it could
certainly be worth more than its face value. Let's have a look at
some of the coins to keep an eye out for.

Decimalisation came into use
in the UK in 1971 and with it a whole new set of coins. Only two of
those coins remain in circulation today with their original size –
the 1p and 2p. Since it has been 45 years since the original coins
were introduced the ones issued in the 1970s are now becoming rarer
as damaged coins are removed from circulation and others are simply
lost. In the pile of the coins above the earliest 1p in the batch was
from 1990. This week on eBay I have seen a 1971 1p coin selling for
£100.

Some coins are collectible
because the Royal Mint deliberately issued them as limited edition
designs whilst others are design or minting faults that have slipped
through. One of those is a batch of silver 1p coins. Due to their
size they could easily be mistaken for 5p coins.

From 1971 to 1981 on 1p and
2p coins the words 'New Pence' was on the back on them. From 1982 on
the 2p coin 'New Pence' was changed to 'Two Pence' however in 1983 a
batch was minted with the old 'New Pence' inscription on. Most were
put in collectors' packs but some made it into general circulation.

Another design mistake was
made in 2008. The 20p coin had a slight redesign with the Royal Mint
shifting the date from the back of the coin to the front. In all of
this moving about a number of coins ended up with no date stamp on at
all. Have a look here
at how to identify one and remember the only rare coins are the 20
pences without any date on at all.

Over the years the Royal
Mint has released a number of limited edition coins. Some of these
are snapped up by collectors but others are released into general
circulation. Due to their limited nature they now have a collector's
value. Some are only worth a couple of pound but they could be worth
looking out for:

- 50p from 2009 minted to
commemorate the 250th anniversary of Kew Botanical
Gardens. The Royal Mint describe it as 'the rarest coin design in
current circulation'.

- 50p EC Commemorative coin
1992-1993. There were 109,000 issued but it is no longer in
circulation as the 50p coin was reduced in size in 1997.

- £2 Mary Rose, 500th
anniversary and £2 King James Bible 400th anniversary
coins from 2011. Both were limited edition coins released in small
numbers.

- For London 2012 Olympics 29
different designs of 50p were issued. A full set can sell for around
£35. Some of the more popular designs such as the football coin with
the offside explanation on and the wheelchair rugby are selling for
£3-4 each. The rarest coin in this set is the original aquatic 50p
with the water going over the swimmer's face. Just 600 of these was
released before it was altered to show a clearly visible face.

Have you got any rare or
collectible coins? Do you check your change for any unusual coins?

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you want to join in with this week's Finance Fridays then add your
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Tuesday 27th
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